U.S. Surgeon General Says He Supports Medical Cannabis Research, But Opposes Recreational Use

Merry Jane Reports

In a public speech, Surgeon General Adams also said he opposes smoking as a form of consumption. “How am I going to tell you not to smoke a cigarette but I am going to tell you to pick up a joint?”

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has come out in support of medical cannabis research, but still opposes recreational legalization. Speaking at the National Black Caucus of State Legislators’ annual conference in Indianapolis last week, Adams said that he believed medical cannabis “should be like any other drug,” the News and Tribune reports. “We need to let the FDA vet it, study it, vet it. The FDA has actually approved cannabidiol oil and some derivatives of marijuana.”

Although Adams’ support of MMJ research is surprisingly forward-thinking for a member of the Trump administration, he still expressed reservations about potential risks of cannabis use. “Marijuana is not one substance,” he said. “It’s actually over 100 different substances, some of which benefit, some of which are harmful.” Research on every individual substance that comprises cannabis is still in its early days, but to date, there is not a lot of evidence to support the claim that any one specific cannabinoid is more harmful than others.

Adams also said that he opposed the smoking of cannabis, noting that the Surgeon General’s office has traditionally opposed cigarette smoking. “How am I going to tell you not to smoke a cigarette but I am going to tell you to pick up a joint? I can’t do it, can’t do it,” he said, according to the News and Tribune. “I don’t want 10 years down the road where we’re seeing an epidemic of lung cancer among folks who are smoking medical marijuana.”

Medical cannabis can, of course, be consumed in a number of ways that do not not require smoking, and several states that have legalized MMJ explicitly prohibit products that necessitate smoking.